Madara's True Heir
by fullyautoaug
Summary: For eight years straight, Sarutobi Hiruzen along with his student Jiraiya had no idea of what happened to Minato's son, that is until the Toad Sage found him wondering Ame with eyes that were defiantly not his own.
1. Chapter 1

Yo! New Story I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Beta'ed by: Sefrys, 27.05.2013

Chapter one: The prodigal son returns.

The famous third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen marched through the streets of his village with an intense look on his face that made civilians and shinobi alike have second thoughts about greeting their revered leader. No one exactly knew why the Hokage himself was marching through the village with such a look on his face, but many began to speculate as they followed the village leader.

Hiruzen paid no mind to the crowd that gathered behind as he moved through the village, fueled by the information he just received from one of his ANBU. The old Kage could barely believe his eyes when he read the contents of the message. At the pace the Hokage was moving, it didn't take him long to reach his destination which was the Konoha's general hospital.

"Which room is he in!?" The Hokage barked out in a demanding voice that scared the hell out of the woman who occupied the hospital's front desk.

"R-R-Room three f-fifty s-s-seven, Hokage-sama." The woman stuttered out in fear.

With a nod of his head, Hiruzen quickly made his way to the said room. As he made his way through the halls, the Kage could hear weird sounds coming from the room he was headed towards. The sound was clapping if he wasn't mistaking. When Hiruzen walked through the threshold of the room, he was greeted by the sight of his student Jiraiya and a boy who was missing for last eight years straight, Uzumaki Naruto.

Once the Kyuubi was successfully sealed, Hiruzen along with a team of his best ANBU arrived on the sealing sight to check on the condition of Minato, Kushina and their child. However, the only thing they found were the bodies of the Hokage and his wife, but without Naruto in sight.

The next five years were filled with Hiruzen dedicating any resources he could into finding the little Naruto, but no matter how hard he looked, nothing would come up. Until now, that is. Just about ten minutes ago, the Hokage received a message from his perverted student that held the two words he waited eight years for - 'Found him.'

"Wow you are so awesome Jiraiya-sama!" The child said in amazement as he stared at the Gama Sennin. "Tobi hopes he could be a famous shinobi, just like you!"

"No, no, gaki," Jiraiya said waving his finger in a chiding motion. "What did I say before?"

With a sheepish look on his face, the blonde kid rubbed his head and corrected himself. "You said Tobi's real name is Naruto."

"So it is you…" Hiruzen said getting the attention of the room's two occupants. Once the boy turned around, the Hokage immediately took in his features. Bright, spiky blonde hair, whisker marks on each cheek and much to his interest, charcoal colored eyes. From what the village leader could remember, neither Naruto's mother nor father had charcoal eyes.

"Finally made it, Sensei?" Jiraiya said with a grin on his face. "I thought you got a heart attack when you received my letter."

Hiruzen chuckled shortly."Jiraiya, where did you find him?" The Hokage asked, not moving his eyes away from his deceased successor's son.

Still grinning, the Gama Sennin placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I found the gaki wandering around Ame."

"Amegakure!?" Hiruzen sputtered in shock. "What on the earth was he doing there?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Jiraiya told his sensei that he had no idea. "You got me old man, but it's getting kind of late. How about we grab Naruto a bite to eat before we go any further with our discussion?"

Hiruzen showed his agreement with a nod of his head, before turning his head towards Naruto. "So is there anything in particular you want to eat?" He asked the blond.

"Ramen!" The boy said with a beaming grin.

After hearing that, Hiruzen and Jiraiya shared an amused look with each other.

-A couple of hours later-

Once Naruto had his fill of ramen, Jiraiya escorted him to his apartment where the young kid could sleep the night off and later he went to the Hokage tower to discuss his finding.

"Like I said sensei, I found him couple of miles away from Ame and I have no idea how he got there." Jiraiya explained again.

"What about the person who abducted him." Hiruzen said thinking of the night when he discovered the lack of Naruto in the sealing altar. "Do you have any ideas who could've done it?"

"No idea." The Sage said looking out through the window at the view of the village. "I questioned the kid extensively about it too, but given that he was a newborn at the time, he had nothing to contribute. The only Naruto knows is that he was raised by an old man, and from what the gaki told me about him there was no way he was spry enough to sneak in a shinobi village and steal a baby." Jiraiya paused a bit before turning to his old sensei. "I do have a theory of what happened that night, though." He said getting a raise eyebrow form the Hokage.

"Well then let's hear it, Jiraiya-kun." Hiruzen said.

"I think that a shinobi from under your command had something to do with Naruto's disappearance." Jiraiya stated with a serious look on his face.

The Hokage wanted debunk Jiraiya's theory but he paused before he said anything. It wasn't so farfetched as to believe that a shinobi who probably had his life devastated by the Kyuubi's attack decided to get rid of the Jinchuriki. "If your theory is correct, Jiraiya-kun, the trail has gone to cold and we may never figure out who was the culprit."

Jiraiya nodded his head in agreement. "That's why I want to take the boy with me."

The aged Kage snapped his head towards him in surprise. "You want to do what!?"

"I want to take the boy with me." Jiraiya repeated. "I don't think that leaving him here is in his best interest, since it's obvious that there are people here who are willing to conspire against him. So let me take him and train him to be a great Konoha shinobi, just like his parents!"

"How can he be a proud shinobi of Konoha if barely even spends time inside the village?" The Hokage argued.

"Well letting him stay here is most likely going to poisons his mind against our village." Jiraiya pointed out. "Look, all I want to do is give the kid a chance of protecting himself from all the bullshit you know that will be coming his way in the coming years. Just give me a couple of years and I'll bring him back before a Genin exam. That way he can get himself a team and learn the importance of friendship and teamwork. His love of Konoha will eventually come from that, and if we're really lucky, the kid might want to become the Hokage."

Hiruzen stared intently at Jiraiya for a couple of quiet minutes, before he released a breath he held for a moment. "Just don't turn the kid into a pervert.

With a wide grin on his face, Jiraiya gave his sensei a wink. "No promises."

-The next day-

Jiraiya stared at the massive gates of Konoha and then switched his look to his newest student. The little brat was dressed in some simple, brown travelling robes with a backpack that held some essentials. "You ready to head out, Naruto?

With a foxy grin on his face, Naruto looked up to the awesome man that promised to train him to be a shinobi. "You bet, Jiraiya-sama!" He said with his voice dripping with excitement. "Tobi is going to be an awesome shinobi!" A look from Jiraiya caused the blonde to correct himself. "Naruto means Naruto is going to an awesome shinobi!"

"Of course you will, with the great Jiraiya-sama teaching you anything is possible!"

Naruto couldn't help but look at Jiraiya with stars in his eyes. "You are so cool, Jiraiya-sama!"

'_This is kid is already beating Minato in being my favorite student.'_

-Five years later-

The third Hokage sat in his office awaiting the arrival of his student and his student's young apprentice. From what he was told by the messenger toad that had arrived a couple of hours ago, Jiraiya was scheduled to be returning any hour now. And right on cue the window in Hiruzen's office slid open allowing Jiraiya to climb through.

"You know that I have a door, Jiraiya-kun." The Hokage said shaking his head at his student's eccentric way of entering the Hokage tower.

"You know that I can't go through the front door anymore." Jiraiya said defending his favorite entrance. "Your secretary still hasn't gotten over the offer I gave her."

Of course it had something to do with his perverted tendencies. "So Jiraiya-kun, why isn't Naruto-kun currently with you?"

"I told the gaki to go wander around the village while I talk about business." The Sage informed the Kage. "He'll swing in by later."

The Hokage gave Jiraiya a nod of understanding. "As long as I get to catch up with the lad, it's fine. So now down to business, is Naruto-kun prepared for Genin exams?"

Jiraiya gave his sensei a look that told him something was wrong. "What's the matter Jiraiya-kun? Is there something wrong with Naruto-kun?"

"Well you see, before we even began his training, Naruto revealed that he already had some training in the shinobi arts in the first place."

A grave silence fell over the two. "Do you know who trained him and what was their reason behind it?" Hiruzen asked. This was a serious situation. For all they knew Naruto could be a sleeper agent.

"Don't worry sensei it's nothing too serious. The only things the gaki knew were tree walking and water walking. Both things he learned from the old man that raised him." Jiraiya explained. "And he only used them to survive on the land."

Hiruzen released a breath of relief. "I'll still have him meet with Inoichi just to ensure that there's nothing wrong with the kid, just as a precaution."

"Alright, but I'm telling you, I spent five years with the kid and trust me, when I say he's on his way to being one of Konoha's finest, because he will be." Jiraiya said vouching for his student.

"So just how strong have he became under your tutelage, Jiraiya-kun?"

"Let me just tell you this sensei, an apple doesn't fall far from a tree."

-At the shinobi academy-

In a rare show of emotion, Aburame Shino had an eyebrow raised in confusion as he noted that the normally empty seat next to him was currently occupied by a blonde wearing a high collar dark-orange robe held together by a red obi and black pants, but the most oddest thing was the oversized war-fan that was lying on his desk.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Shino asked the teen as he never have seen him in class or around the village.

"Hello!" The teen said loudly making ever student that occupied the classroom turn their head towards him. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm a good boy!" Everyone looked at the boy with curious looks on their faces wondering for how long have he been there.

"Umm, where did you come from?" Umino Iruka, the one of the academy's shinobi instructors asked. He also wasn't aware of the blonde's presence until his loud introduction.

"Naruto just made it to village with Jiraiya-sama today and Naruto didn't really know what to do with him. So when he saw some people of his age, he decided to follow them." Naruto explained in a child-like voice that totally didn't fit his age.

"Jiraiya-sama!" A pink haired academy student repeated in shock. "As in Jiraiya, the famous Gama Sennin? The guy who trained the fourth Hokage?" Many of the students gasped in amazement.

"Yeah, that's him. He's super awesome and tells the best stories about his adventures!" Naruto said confirming the girl's question.

Kiba observed the new arrival with a skeptical look on his face. "So you're saying that you were trained by kind of some super shinobi? Yeah right!"

Naruto gave an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. "So is today the day of the graduation? Because Jiraiya-sama told Naruto he'd have to participate in it in order to become a true shinobi of Konoha."

"Actually the graduation exam will be taking place in a couple of minutes, but I can't really allow you to participate without the proper documents." And right on cue, a plume of smoke exploded in front of the classroom and a deep voice was heard throughout the room.

"Prepare future protectors of Konoha for what will surely be the greatest moment in your lives!" The smoke slowly started to dissipate, allowing the classroom's occupants to get a view of a man with long white hair standing on a giant toad. "He is feared in Iwa, respected in Suna, loathed in Kiri. He is the famous Gama Sennin, Jiraiya!" The person shouted, while falling from the ceiling were scraps of confetti.

The silence in the classroom was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. That is until Naruto made his opinion known with his applause. "You are so awesome Jiraiya-sama!" The whisker-marked boy exclaimed clapping.

"Tch, at least one person recognized my awesome introduction." Jiraiya muttered lowly before he turned to Iruka with a piece of paper in hand. "Here you go, a letter from the old man himself giving Naruto permission to take the test."

Taking the note from the famous shinobi, Iruka read the continents and gave a quick glance in Naruto's direction. "Understood Jiraiya-sama." Iruka said saluting his superior.

After returning Iruka's salute, Jiraiya turned towards Naruto. "Remember what I told you, kid?"

"There's nothing better than getting a reward from a grateful foreign kunoichi!"

Jiraiya couldn't help but to burst out laughing at Naruto's answer. "Not really the quote I was looking for but it'll do for now. Just make friends and get stronger gaki, I'll be back to get you in a few." And with that Jiraiya disappeared with a puff of smoke.

Once the famous Shinobi was gone, most of the academy students began to launch questions at their newest classmate but soon they found themselves stopped by an annoyed Iruka. "Shut up you little brats!"

Iruka's yell had an immediate reaction with all the students becoming silent. "Alright now let's get to the graduation exam. I'm sorry to put you on the spot like this Naruto but how about we just get your test out of the way?"

With a grin on his face, Naruto grabbed his gunbai and walked down to the front of his classroom ready to perform, but before Iruka could begin the test, a silver haired man entered the classroom. "Sorry I'm late Iruka, but I found myself a little busy with something."

"Oh, hey Mizuki," Iruka said greeting his long-time friend. "You're just in time to for the exam."

Looking over to the front of the class, Mizuki saw an unfamiliar face. "Say Iruka who's the new kid?"

"Oh, that's Uzumaki Naruto he's Jiraiya-sama's newest apprentice, but he also isn't an official shinobi of Konoha." The scarred Chunin summarized.

"Jiraiya-sama's apprentice?" Mizuki said in surprise. "I wasn't aware he was training anyone."

"I don't think anyone but Hokage-sama knew." Iruka said before turning his attention back to Naruto. "Okay, let's begin."

-At the Hokage tower-

"Just how long where you actually aware of the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki location?" Utatane Koharu asked her old teammate. Around thirty minutes ago, she along with Shimura Danzo and Mitokado Homura were summoned to the Hokage tower to be informed about an important development inside their cherished village. Once the three arrived, Hiruzen informed them about the status of Minato's son.

"Actually, Jiraiya-kun found Naruto roughly five years ago."

"Five years ago!?" Homura repeated in shock. "So are you telling me that you really had no idea where the child was?"

"Yes," Hiruzen said giving Homura a questioning look. "Just what did you really believe?"

Homura hesitated on answering but Koharu had no problem speaking in his place. "We believed that you had hid the boy in order to spar him from living the life that Jinchuriki usually lead."

The third Hokage let out a laugh at the idea. "That's actually not a bad idea, but no, Jiraiya-kun found the boy around Ame."

"Ame?" Danzo questioned but with a blank face. "Just what was he doing around Ame?"

"Apparently he was being raised by an old man who found him."

"And just what if this 'old man' was somebody who poisoned the boy minds against our village?" Koharu asked.

"For the last five years Naruto-kun has been training under Jiraiya-kun, a loyal shinobi of Konoha so I'm not worried about Naruto-kun's alliances." The Kage said defending his choice.

"So the fourth's son has training under Jiraiya?" Danzo said getting the attention of the room. "Let's just hope he can outdo his father's accomplishments."

"From what Jiraiya-kun told me, Naruto is already well on his way."

-The next day-

Naruto walked happily through the streets of Konoha with his gunbai attached to his back and a Konoha headband wrapped around his forehead, showing everyone that he was an official shinobi. Today was supposed to be the day the Genin teams were announced and Naruto would find out just whom he'll be training alongside for the next couple of years.

As Naruto made his way into the classroom he took the nearest available seat which just so happened to be next to Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year. "Hello Sasuke-san!" Naruto said greeting the Uchiha with a smile.

Sasuke only gave Naruto a quick glance before returning to his thinking.

"Ok, not in the mood for talking, Naruto can understand that." The nine-tailed Jinchuriki said brushing off Sasuke's rudeness. After a couple of minutes, the sounds of an argument could be heard outside, right before two girls came running through the classroom door.

"Outta my way forehead!" Ino yelled as she did her best to push the pink haired girl aside.

"No way Ino-pig, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled back.

The only person who looked at the girls curiously was Naruto. The rest of the class had grown used to the girls dynamics. _'How can you act like that and call yourself a respectable kunoichi?'_Naruto wondered as he thought of all the kunoichi he encountered while travelling with Jiraiya. If not a single one of them acted this way in the presence of Jiraiya-sama, then how could these two scream about a guy who wasn't even a Genin?

"Hey Naruto, move over! I want to sit next Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled at the blonde teen.

"The hell you are Forehead!"

Naruto just offered the two girls a pleasant smile and moved from his seat and placed himself in an empty space next to a Hyuga heiress, Hinata. "Hello Hinata-san." Naruto greeted the dark blue haired girl.

In an instant, Hinata's head snapped towards Naruto with a Byakugan enhanced glare. "Hmph, hello to you as well, Naruto-san." The lavender eyed girl spat out as if it was a chore. While her demeanor made it look like she was annoyed by Naruto's presence, her eyes were slowly drifting south. _'He's already more impressive than anyone else in this class room!'_She thought while using her all seeing eyes.

Getting the idea that Hinata didn't like him, Naruto focused his attention on the classroom door awaiting Iruka's arrival. It didn't take long for the scarred Chunin to show up, looking as if he recently got into a fight. "Good morning class, today I'll be assigning teams."

Seeing Iruka's condition, many of the students began to talk amongst themselves until the brash Kiba spoke up. "Why do you look like you just got into a fight, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka made a face of uneasiness before he answered. "Yesterday night there was an event that I had to see to, but it's classified and that's all I can give you." More discussions broke out throughout the class and even the word ANBU was thrown up once or twice. "Okay, that's enough! Settle down class so I can assign you to your teams. Team eight, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, your team's sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai. Team ten, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. And team seven will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and finally Uzumaki Naruto and your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." As Iruka went on announcing the teams the some of the Jonin instructors came and collected their students, this continued until only team seven was left.

-Two hours later-

The last couple of hours were filled with Sakura doing her best to catch Sasuke's eye as he ignored her while Naruto sat of to the side humming happily to himself. After once more failing to get Sasuke to pay attention to her, Sakura turned towards Naruto. "How can you just sit there smile, we've been here for forever."

"Naruto doesn't mind." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Jiraiya-sama told Naruto that a good shinobi is patient."

Before Sakura could say anything about Naruto's logic the three heard the sound of the door opening allowing a silver haired man to poke his head through the door. "My first impression is that you all look weird. Now meet me on the rooftop." The Jonin said right before leaving back out the door.

"…Naruto isn't weird…"

-On the rooftop-

Once the three Genin made it to the top of the roof, they were greeted with the sight of their Jonin-sensei reading a small orange book. "Hey that's Jiraiya-sama's book!" Naruto said when he easily spotted his master's side work.

"And a great book it is…" The masked shinobi said before closing the book shut. "Now, how about we have some proper introductions?"

"What do you mean with that, Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Your name and likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future, hobbies, things of that nature."

"How about you go first sensei to give us an idea of what you want us to tell you." The pinkette said.

"Fair enough, my name is Hatake Kakashi, the things like and dislike… I don't feel like telling you. My dreams for the future are none of your business and my hobbies… you're too young to know."

While Sakura and Sasuke deadpanned at Kakashi's intro Naruto just nodded his head as if he really learned something about the man.

"Ok now you go pinky."

Sakura made a brief look of distaste at the name but continued anyway. "My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are…" She glanced over to Sasuke. "I dislike when Ino-pig tries to get in the way of true love! My dreams for the future are…" Another look was given to Sasuke. "And my hobbies are…" She still didn't take eyes of the Uchiha.

"Okay… Blondie you're up next."

"Naruto's name is Uzumaki Naruto, but for a while he thought it was Tobi, but turned out it wasn't! Naruto likes ramen, listening to Jiraiya-sama's awesome tales of awesomeness, his gunbai, his summoning contract, and so much more! What Naruto dislikes are people who are not good! Naruto's dreams for the future… To be one of the greatest shinobi Konoha's ever seen, and his hobbies are… training!"

'_So this is Minato-sensei's son? I wonder what type of person he really is.'_Kakashi thought as he gave the blonde a bored look. "Now finally, sunshine it's your turn."

Sasuke barely reacted to the nickname. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike a lot of things, there isn't anything I particularly like. My dreams for the future are to restore my clan and kill a certain someone. And my hobbies are training."

'_He's so coooooool!'_Sakura thought staring at the raven-haired Genin with stars in her eyes.

"Well now that we know each other's most intimate secrets we can begin to talk about the test."

"Test?" Sakura repeated. "But I thought we already took the test to become a ninja."

"That little exam you took the other day was just to see if you were worthy enough to be even given a headband. This test will decide if you truly have what it takes to become a Genin." Kakashi said with an eye smile. "So tomorrow report to the training ground three at seven A.M. Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast, because you'll just throw up." Now with the Genin informed, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Seeing that Jonin was now gone, Naruto got up from his seated position and gave his teammates a friendly wave. "Naruto will see you guys tomorrow!" After turning his back to the two, the air around Naruto became distorted and it sucked Naruto into a void, until his body completely disappeared.

"What kind of a Jutsu was that?" Sakura asked Sasuke once she saw Naruto vanish.

Instead of answering the girl, Sasuke just left the rooftop leaving behind an oblivious Sakura.

-The next day-

At seven A.M sharp, Sakura and Sasuke sleepily walked towards the training ground. "Good morning Sasuke-kun." Sakura said while releasing a yawn.

"Hn." The Uchiha grunted without even looking at the girl.

"Hello Sasuke-san and Sakura-san!" A voice said seemly out of nowhere, the two Genin turned their heads catching the sight of Naruto appearing from a vortex.

"Hi Naruto…" Sakura said looking at the blonde in annoyance, just when she thought that she and Sasuke were going to have some time alone, this happy weirdo had to show up.

As Naruto went to take a seat under a nearby tree, he could hear a loud rumbling sound. "Sakura-san," The Jinchuriki said questioningly as look at the pinkette. "Was that you?"

Sakura's cheeks became rosy as she tried to avoid her two teammates stare. "It's nothing. I'm just hungry because of Kakashi-sensei's stupid instructions!"

A light bulb appeared above Naruto's head and he began searching through equipment pouch that was hidden underneath his robe. "Naruto has some protein bars, do you want one?"

The hungry kunoichi wanted nothing more than to just snatch the bars out of Naruto's hand but she remembered Kakashi's words. "But Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat anything."

"Actually, Kakashi-sensei told us we shouldn't, but he never said we couldn't."

With that logic in place, Sakura grabbed one of the bars and began eating. "Thanks Naruto!"

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke said finally speaking up. "Do you have any more?"

With a smile on his face, Naruto handed the Uchiha some of his extras. "Now we'll all be ready for Kakashi-sensei's test!"

-Two hours later-

When Kakashi arrived, he was welcomed by a sight he wasn't expecting to see. The three Genins were all huddled together speaking in hushed tones. "Uh, good morning…" Kakashi said getting his team's attention.

"You're late!" Sakura shouted once she heard Kakashi's voice.

"Sorry a black cat crossed my path and I had to take a different route." He explained, making Sakura and Sasuke give him deadpanned, disbelieving looks.

"That explains everything!" Naruto said getting a look from his teammates and an eye smile from Kakashi.

After explaining the rules of the bell test, Kakashi expected the Genin to spread out and began looking after ways to figure out how to obtain a bell, but instead, the three stood their ground in front of the Jonin.

"You ready, Sasuke-san?" Naruto said placing a hand on the hilt of his large war-fan. The Uchiha's reply was merely a grunt.

'_Based on this, they already passed, but I want to see what these two got.'_

With a smile on his face, Naruto lunged at the Jonin with his war-fan.

Done and done. I'm just going to leave it here and allow you guys to speculate the mysteries I placed around Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I just want to make something clear about Sasuke and Sakura. I do not plan to bash either and I'm going to make them both useful. Ok let's get into it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't anything.**

**Chapter two: Missions, summoning and motherland. **

"_Ami! You son of a bitch I'll kill you for that!" A Kumo Chunin screamed in anguish as he watched the girl he loved fall lifelessly to muddy ground, what was supposed to be a simple recon mission quickly degraded into hell once the two stumbled upon an open area where they discovered an old man training in a boy in shinobi techniques. Seeing that it was only an elderly man in a child, Ami wanted to approach the situation diplomatically but then the old man ordered the kid to attack. _

_Initially the two trained shinobi couldn't take the old man's order seriously until the child quickly covered the distance to them and plunged a kunai in the neck of the kunoichi. __**"Raiton: Gian (Lightning Release: False Darkness)!" **__The surviving Chunin spat out a bolt of lightning towards the child hoping to see him fry but despite hitting the boy dead on it passed harmlessly through him as if he wasn't there. "Shit a Genjutsu!" The man realized as he brought his hands together to cancel the illusion._

"_Not quite." The boy said as he ran through some hand seals of his own before slamming his handsinto the ground. __**"Mokuton: Jubaku Esio (Wood Release: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial)!" **__A mass of roots emerged from the ground completely ensnaring the Kumo Chunin._

"_Wha-What the hell!?" The man managed to shout out before he was dragged into the ground by the roots._

_Walking forward on his cane, the old man gave his young apprentice a nod of approval. "You are growing more and more proficient in using your gifts."_

_Pulling his hand out of the ground, the boy looked at his mentor with fully matured Sharingan eyes. "I have to get even stronger if I'm going to save this world, Madara-sensei."_

"_Of course you do…"_

-linebreak-

"_These three are on a whole other level…' _Kakashi thought as his lone eye scanned the destroyed training field; where there was once, a lush field a grass now only stood scorched earth uprooted trees all because of team seven attempts at obtaining a bell.

"Nee, nee we got him on the ropes, Sasuke-san!" Naruto said excitedly as he gripped the hilt of his gunbai in preparation for their next move.

For just a brief moment Sasuke's eyes flicked over to the grinning blonde that stood next him, when Naruto first introduced himself at the academy, Sasuke believed he was nothing more than another fool wishing to play shinobi but after fighting alongside the boy gave the Uchiha a new sense of respect for the boy. "We just need to push our advantage a little more."

Sakura had hearts in her eyes as she focused on Sasuke from her hiding spot, she wanted nothing more than to gush how awesome her crush looked but understood she had a job to do. Reaching into her equipment pouch, the pinkette withdrew the three kunai held explosive notes wrapped around the handle, all she had to do wait for the signal.

"Now!" Sasuke yelled while running towards the silver haired Jonin with Naruto trailing behind him, once in arms length of the man, Sasuke attempted to knock the man out with a viscous kick that Kakashi easily blocked with one hand.

"Nice try Sasuke-kun…" Kakashi lazily said as he held the Genin's leg, but because he didn't decided to grip Sasuke's leg, the Uchiha was able to disentangle himself and back flip away from the Jonin allowing Naruto to swing his gunbai without fear of hitting Sasuke.

Know that the blonde's war fan wasn't made out of paper, Kakashi jumped back to avoid being bludgeoned by the weapon, but even though he evaded the fan itself he wasn't able to do anything about the massive gust of wind it expelled. "Gah!"

Sakura watched as Kakashi was pushed back Naruto's wind and knew now was her perfect moment. "Eat this!" She yelled as she threw the kunai at the Jonin.

'_These's kid…' _Kakashi thought as he heard the sound of the kunai cutting the air.

Once the explosive notes came into effect and black ash filled the area that Kakashi once stood the three Genin all came together. "I hope I didn't really hurt Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said worriedly as she waited for the lazy Jonin to emerge out of the smoke.

"Maa, maa don't worry Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei is a Jonin it'll take more than a couple of explosive notes to take him out." Naruto said easing her concern.

"Hn, so that means we should get ready to finish this fight." Sasuke said scanning the area; it seems that today was full of surprises from Naruto actually being a capable shinobi to Sakura not being a total waste of space. "Stay on alert."

A silence overtook the training ground as the tree looked around for any signs of Kakashi. "Underneath you!" A voice yelled as a pair of hands came out of the ground to grab Sakura ankles.

The scream was loud the two male Genin felt the need to hold their ears instead of reaching out to help her. "What the fuck!" Naruto yelled breaking his happy go lucky persona for only a second, it was a good thing that Sakura's pipes were loud enough for his blunder to go unnoticed.

It didn't take long for Sakura to be submerged neck deep in the ground with Kakashi standing over her. "You know throwing explosive notes at a person isn't a way to make a good impression." The Jonin chided.

Sasuke growled a bit at Kakashi's mocking and rushed forward while running through some hand seals. **"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball)!"**

At this point Kakashi wasn't even in the least surprised as Sasuke spit out a massive sphere comprised completely of fire, but his lone eye did widen when Naruto swung his gunbai at the fireball causing it to grow larger and move faster. _'Don't they realize Sakura is over here!?' _Kakashi thought as he looked over to where he buried the pinkette, the only thing Kakashi saw was a hole in the ground.

"Thanks for the rescue Naruto-san." Sakura said standing next to her two teammates.

"Heh, Naruto's pleasure," The blonde Genin said rubbing the back of his head. "It's a good thing Jiraiya-sama had Naruto practice his **Kawarimi (Body Replacement)." **

"Okay, okay enough." Kakashi said emerging from the flames with his hands held up in a disarming manner. "You three pass. Congratulations." The three looked at Kakashi in surprise.

"But none of us were able to get the bell." Sakura said confused on why he decided to end the test prematurely.

Kakashi gave Sakura an eye smile. "Because you three passed the test already, the objective of the bell test was to get you three to work together despite the fact that one of you had a chance to fail. Instead of fighting amongst yourselves you all managed to fight alongside each other." _'That and one of you might get lucky and actually kill me.'_

"Yes! Naruto is now an official Konoha shinobi!" Naruto said jumping into the air Sakura joined Naruto in his excitement and cheered alongside of him while Sasuke only smirked.

"Now listen up team there is something I want to tell you that will follow you all through you careers." Hearing the seriousness in Kakashi's voice, the three focused all their attention on the Jonin. "Remember this, those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their teammates are worst the trash."

All three had a thoughtful look on their faces as they registered Kakashi's words. _"There are no rules in this world Kakashi…'_ Naruto thought.

"Now that team seven is officially a team be prepared because tomorrow you three will began serving your village by carrying out missions assigned by the Hokage himself!"

"Wow I can't believe that we're really going to be doing a real mission tomorrow." Sakura said in awe.

**-Line break-**

"I can't believe that this is a real mission…" Sakura said in boredom as she and her teammates painted in old woman's fence, it's been a week since the three passed Kakashi's bell test and so far the only things they have been doing is villagers chores.

"Isn't awesome Sakura-san?" Naruto said applying a fresh coat of paint on his side of the fence. "Jiraiya-sama didn't tell me D-rank missions were so awesome!"

"You are so weird Naruto-san…" Sakura said lowly before turning towards Sasuke. "Don't you wish we could be doing something different Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked hopping to start a conversation with her ever-silent crush.

Though Sasuke didn't say anything he also was annoyed with the D-ranks missions, for all the skills they displayed against Kakashi during their test the still only ended doing busy work.

"So how are my cute Genin doing?" Kakashi said appearing on the branch of nearby tree with his favorite book in hand."

Once Sakura heard her sensei's voice rounded on the silver haired Jonin. "And where have you been, Kakashi-sensei!?" The pink haired kunoichi yelled.

"Maa, maa I was busy helping an old woman across the street." The Jonin said nonchalantly getting a glare from Sakura.

"Hmm, Kakashi-sensei must be low on cash if he's doing D-rank missions in his spare time." Naruto said shaking his head in pity. "If you want, Naruto can lend you some money until you're back on your feet."

Kakashi lowered his book to get a view of a giggling Sakura and a smirking Sasuke. "You know my clan has a lot money put away I can also give you hand." Sasuke offered.

'_Smart asses…' _The masked Jonin thought. "Anyway finish up here and we'll go see about getting you three another mission."

"Do you think it's possible that we'll get a mission that won't involve us doing someone's choirs?" Sakura asked.

Returning his attention back to his book, Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "We'll see what Hokage-sama has to offer."

**-Line break-**

"So you three think you're ready for a higher ranked mission?" The third Hokage asked, he could easily sympathies with team seven as he thought about his days of pulling weed out of the Mito-sama's garden. "Alright how about a C-rank mission?"

"Nee, nee Hokage-sama, do you think that you can also issue a couple more D-ranks for Kakashi-sensei he really needs the money." Naruto asked on behave of his teacher.

Hiruzen looked at one of his most talented Jonin with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware of you finical straits, Kakashi."

"We believe he spends too much money on those books he reads, Hokage-sama." Sakura added.

Kakashi didn't even respond as he lowered his head. "Can we please just get the mission, Hokage-sama." Kakashi asked wanting to end this conversation.

"Oh yes of course, come in Tazuna-san!" The moment the Hokage called out the name an old man walked into the room holding a bottle of sake.

Immediately the man decided to make his opinion know about the Genin. "Are these the shinobi that are supposed to protect me? They look like a bunch of brats."

"Hey Naruto and his team aren't brats! We're shinobi of Konoha!" The blonde argued back with Sakura agreeing with him.

"I can assure you Tazuna-san my team is more than capable of helping with whatever you need them for." Kakashi said reading his book.

Clearing his throat, Hiruzen gained everyone's attention. "Well the mission is to escort Tazuna-san back to his home in wave."

"So when do you wish to leave, Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked.

"Hmph, I'd like to get a fresh start tomorrow so we can have hours of sunlight." The bridge builder said still a little upset about what he could afford, giving his problem three teenagers and a incompetent looking shinobi was only going to lead him to his death.

"You heard him team be prepared to be out of the village for at least a week."

**-Line break-**

Once team seven was dismissed, Naruto headed to the apartment Jiraiya left him and stood in the middle of an empty living room while running through some seals. **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summing)!" **he said before slamming his hand onto the wooden floor making a cloud of smoke appear.

Once the smoke cleared a medium sized bright-red salamander was laying on the floor. **"Ah, Chotto-Tokage (Little Lizard) we've been wondering when you'd summon one of us we have news to share."**

Naruto bowed his head apologetically. "I'm sorry Shinko-sama most of my time has been occupied with missions alongside my new teammates."

The salamander gave Naruto a nod of its large head. **"No harm done Chotto-Tokage but please be sure to keep in more contact with us."**

"I'll be sure to do so Shinko-sama."

"**Good now onto business concerning the clan,"** Shinko said with a serious tone to her voice. **"You have been bumped to the sole holder to our contract, Hanzo has been killed."**

'_So the pretenders have begun to make their moves…' _Naruto thought with a grin coming onto his face. _'The next couple of years will defiantly be interesting.' _"So what does this mean for me Shinko-sama?"

"**As of right now I can only grant you a gift a two, until you bring us the head of someone of note you cannot truly take advantage of the things we can grant you."** The salamander elder said.

Naruto gave her an understanding nod. "Soon I'll bring our clan will be more esteemed than the Sennin's." He assured.

Shinko smiled at Naruto's response. **"I await the day Chotto-Tokage; now hold out your right arm."** The moment Naruto stuck his hand out, Shinko's tongue shot out of her mouth and hit him on his wrist.

Naruto ignored the burning sensation as he endured the marking, once Shinko retracted her tongue the young shinobi brought his arm up to look up the black Salamander tattoo that occupied his wrist. "Heh, cool."

"**That tattoo will allow you to summon us faster all it requires is a small blood sacrifice,"** She said while watching Naruto admire his new connection to the clan. **"But that isn't it all."** Shinko began to make a hocking sound that caught Naruto's attention; it didn't take long for the amphibious summing to spit out its poisonous sac. **"Worry not Chotto-Tokage this gift will not be detrimental to those around you like Hanzo's was; I've made sure of that myself."**

With no hesitation, Naruto picked up the Salamander's sac and threw it into his mouth, like most summings the Salamanders valued their kin and betrayals were rare unless your clan leader was a tyrant like the Snake clans, Manda.

Shinko watched as Naruto collapsed to the floor and crawled next to him. **"Remain calm Chotto-Tokage, by tomorrow your body will adjust and you will be immune to all poisons." **She said as she disappeared in a poof of smoke.

**-Line break-**

With a smile on his face, Naruto walked waved at his two annoyed teammates "Ohayo Sakura-san and Sasuke-san!" Taking in their disgruntle looks, the blonde figured they forgot about Kakashi's habits. "Did you guys actually arrive at the time Kakashi-sensei appointed?"

Neither answer since they both realized that is was indeed dumb to take Kakashi's schedule at face value, but before they could stew on how annoying the Jonin was with his lateness, the man arrived with Tazuna in tow. "So are you three ready to head out?" The silver haired man asked only to receive a disgruntle nod from Sasuke and Sakura and a happy one from Naruto.

"Ugh, I hope these brats can protect me." Tazuna said taking a swig of his sake bottle. "I don't want to get killed because some snot nose brats can't properly protect me."

"Don't worry Tazuna-san, Naruto and his team are really strong we'll protect you!" Naruto said while offering the man a smile.

The half-drunk bridge builder could only grumble in response.

**-Line break-**

Sakura glanced between her two teammates with a worried look on her face, she knew that a C-rank mission would most likely have them running into unskilled bandits that they could take care of with no problem, but what if they actually end up in a real fight. "Uh, Naruto-san…" The pinkette said getting the attention of her blonde teammate.

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Naruto asked slowing down to walk out Sakura's pace.

Sakura twiddled her fingers in a very un-Sakura like manner. "Do you have any more explosive notes like the ones you gave me during the bell test? You know just in case."

"Yep, Naruto is always prepared." The spiky haired shinobi said flicking his wrist to allow a small scroll to slide out of his sleeve. "Here ya go Sakura-san; this scroll has ten explosive notes and five elemental notes."

Sakura took the scroll with a look of awe on her face. "Wow Naruto-san you must be skilled in Fuinjutsu."

"Eh, Naruto's nothing special," He said shrugging his shoulders. "But I did pick up on a few things during my time with Jiraiya-sama."

Before Sakura could express her full gratitude, two shinobi appeared seemly out of nowhere and wrapped Kakashi up in chains; Sakura couldn't help but freeze up in fear at the sight of her sensei being torn in half.

Sasuke was quick to react to the new threats and threw a shuriken into the chains that connected the two; the counter attack was more than enough to stop the shinobi in their tracks allowing Sasuke to engage one of them in Taijutsu.

With Sasuke dealing with one of the two, Naruto rushed towards the other shinobi ready to join the fight, as the blonde got closer his eyes suddenly widen and he fell face first into the ground just in time to avoid a swipe from the shinobi's armored gauntlet.

'_Did he trip?' _The Shinobi questioned in his head as his gauntlet got nothing but air but before he could think about just how lucky the brat is he suddenly found himself reeling from being hit on the chin.

"Ouch," Naruto said rubbing the back of his, the moment he got up from his fall he could feel something bump against the back of his head, a quick look down would reveal a dazed shinobi.

With the two attackers down, Kakashi suddenly appeared from some nearby bushes causing Naruto and Sakura to look surprised.

"Naruto thought you were a goner, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said in relief at seeing his sensei in one piece.

Kakashi only gave Naruto a brief glance. _'Yeah right and I suppose you taking that guy out was just a accident.'_ The silver haired Jonin could easily see through Naruto's child-like persona and easily recognized him for a talent Genin. "So Tazuna-san do you mind to tell us why these two shinobi were after you?"

A bead of sweat rolled down Tazuna's face as he launched into a story about how his village was taken advantage of by a man named Gato, it was thanks to his wealth and thugs he was able to crush the spirit of the villagers and rob them all of their valuables.

"So if I don't make it home my cute grandson will cry forever about his grandpa and my daughter will hate your village forever." Tazuna begged.

"I'll have to consult my team about continuing," Kakashi said turning to his three Genin. "Well what do you three want to do?"

"We already took the mission we might as well keep going." Sasuke said hiding his enthusiasm at the prospect of facing an enemy shinobi.

Sakura looked a bit nervous but gripped the scroll Naruto gave her and nodded her head. "Yeah we should do what we can to help."

Now Kakashi turned to his last Genin to see tears filling Naruto's obsidian eyes. "One of the things Jiraiya-sama told Naruto is to never ignore the cries of a beautiful woman but for Tazuna-san, Naruto thinks we should make an exception."

"Well can't argue with that." Kakashi said pulling out his orange book. "Let's head out."

**-Line Break-**

After Kakashi restrained the demon brothers, the group continued on the road to wave until they eventually came across a large body of water that required them to ride a boat to reach the shores of Wave. Once the boat peddled away a heavy layer of mist descended upon the group.

"Huh, the mist around here normally isn't so heavy." Tazuna said squinting his eyes in a attempt to see the road ahead.

Immediately Kakashi recognized the situation for what it was.

An ambush.

"Get down!" The veteran Jonin yelled while grabbing their client.

Sasuke and Sakura was quick to mimic Kakashi and Naruto fell to the ground in a exaggerated manner with him holding his head and quivering. And right on cue a massive blade came flying over their heads.

"Well if isn't **Sharingan no Kakashi," **A voice said behind the group. "And here I thought this was just going to be a boring assassination."

Turning to the voice, Kakashi put his Icha Icha away. "Momochi Zabuza or also known as **Kirigakure no Kijin."**

After a brief exchange of words, Kakashi revealed his hidden Sharingan and engaged Zabuza on top of the water. At first the Konoha shinobi had the upper hand playing mind games with Zabuza allowing him to throw the swordsman off his game, the tactic worked for the most part until Zabuza was able to trap Kakashi in a Jutsu.

'_Damn it!' _Kakashi thought cursing himself for allowing his skills to fade, while Zabuza was a skilled opponent he wasn't nothing special considering all the battles the Konoha Jonin fought. "Run!" Kakashi yelled from his watery prison as Zabuza created some water clones.

"Those who abandon their teammates are trash!" Naruto yelled grabbing his gunbai. "Sasuke-san a little fire please!"

Without needing to be told twice, the Uchiha ran through some seals. **"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball)!" **The large fireball flew only a few feet above the water surface as it made its way to Zabuza's tree clones.

Zabuza clenched the hilt Kubikiribocho as a cloud of steam filled his vision, at any moment he knew one of Kakashi's brats were going to come bursting forth, and just he predicted Zabuza watched as the steam shift around as if someone jumping through it.

With a single hand, Zabuza swung his massive blade at the steam hoping to bisect whoever was trying to get the jump on him, but instead of steel meeting, flesh the blade was almost pushed out of his hand when he swung at a ball of compressed air.

Knowing that the **Futon **attack was a product of Naruto's gunbai, Kakashi braced himself as the air collided with the prison allowing him to escape. Once free, the Jonin did a couple of black flips to slow down himself down. "Thanks for the help Naruto and Sasuke." Kakashi said getting into a battle stance. "Now shall we continue Zabuza?"

Before Zabuza could answer, a small number of senbon flew into his neck making the missing ninja fall to the ground, the moment he hit the ground Kakashi checked the man's pulse to confirm the kill. "Dead."

"But who killed him?" Sakura wondered aloud.

Right on, cue a masked shinobi appeared in a swirl of water. "Thank you Konoha shinobi," The masked ninja said picking Zabuza up. "I've been tracking Momochi for weeks and it is only because of your help I can now bring his head to Mizukage-sama." And just like how he appeared the hunter ninja left in a swirl of water.

The moment the two left, Kakashi collapsed onto the ground completely exhausted from his battle, it was at that moment Naruto decided to take advantage of their attentiveness to the Jonin to perform a technique. **"Mokuton: Bunshin (Wood Release: Clone)." **He said quietly as switched places with his clone, quickly Naruto took to the tree line and watched as his clone went towards the group and help pick Kakashi off the ground.

**-Line break-**

"So my clan's village is somewhere in that direction." Naruto said to himself as he looked out at the vast body of water, biting his thumb the young shinobi wiped the blood on his seal and slammed his hand against the sandy beach. **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summing)!" **Right in front of Naruto appeared a massive black salamander with yellow spots all along its body.

"**Well if it isn't our sole summoner," **The large lizard said. **"To what do I owe this pleasure, Naruto-kun?"**

"The distance to my clan's village is too great to travel by foot and a boat will take too long and I'm on a time frame, so I would like to request a ride, Chiten-san."

"**Ah, Uzushiogakure," **Chiten said. **"The village famed for their sealing arts. Let's be off."**

The moment Chiten opened his mouth a cloud of purple poison speared through the area but thanks to his gift from Shinko, Naruto wasn't in the least bit affected as he stepped into the salamander's mouth.

With Naruto safely inside his mouth, Chiten dived into the water and began to swim in the direction it knew Uzushiogakure to be.

**-Line break-**

"Thanks for the ride, Chiten-san. I'll summon you when I need a ride home." Naruto said as he watched the spotted salamander disappear in a cloud of smoke. "Whoa, this place is like a graveyard." The blonde shinobi said to himself as he began walking through his clan's village, based on what Naruto could see the village might have been a thing of beauty before it was attacked by a number of fearful shinobi villages.

"Tch, fear truly turns man into monsters." The young Uzumaki said observing the destroyed buildings; everything he saw was just another reason for him to save this world from itself. As he continued on Naruto stumbled onto a giant stone temple, giving the damage done to its structure and the way the doors reduced to rubble a lot of people took refuge here when the village was under siege.

Letting his curiosity get to him, Naruto stepped into the temple once his foot crossed the threshold all the candles that were placed onto the room's walls suddenly became lit prompting Naruto to grab the hilt of his gunbai. Naruto's eyes slowly shifted into crimson as he activated his Sharingan in search of any movement, when he saw nothing Naruto took his hand off the gunbai but kept his Sharingan active.

With the light from the candles, Naruto was able to taken in all the animal paintings that resided on the temple's walls, based on the colors and the designs they were no doubt the tailed-beast. "Heh, you know you're real photogenic." Naruto joked as he patted his stomach, as he continued to look around his eyes landed on two statues.

The two statues stood at least a couple of yards away from each other and connecting the two was a chain and unlike the statues themselves the chain was not made of stone but instead of reddish tinted metal. Walking forward Naruto read the inscription that stood on the base of the statue. **"Uzumaki no Shuirokusari (Vermillion Chain of the Whirlpool)." **Reading that was all Naruto needed to decided to retrieve the item, stepping back a few feet he began running through some seals. **"Doton: Doryuso (Earth Release: Earth flowing spears)!" **Finishing with clasping his hands together, Naruto watched as the spears reduced one of the two statues into rubble allowing one end of the chain to slump towards the ground.

Walking over to the chain, Naruto took it in his hand and yanked it as hard as he could causing the other still standing statue to fall and break apart freeing the other end. "Ok, cool chain but what can you do?" Naruto asked as he looked at the red metal, with a shrug he pumped some of his chakra into the chain and the effects were felt immediately, one of the end parts suddenly became a weighted ball. "Huh, that's neat…" He said observing the change, pumping more chakra into the chain, Naruto imagined a sickle blade and lo and behold, it changed into a sickle. "Oh, we are going to have some fun." A grin spread onto Naruto's face as he grabbed his gunbai and connected one end of the chain on to the hilt of his war fan.

**-Line break-**

It has been three days since Naruto first took off to visit his motherland and he was finally on his way back with a new weapon and a collection of **Fuinjutsu **scrolls that the scavengers could get to because of their blood. One part of the chain was connected to his gunbai and the other end was wrapped around his arm and the scrolls were sealed into a storage tattoo he had on his arm. Once he landed on the shores of Wave Naruto sent a mental command to his wooden clone to make up an excuse to leave for it could dispel itself to allow the original to learn where Tazuna stayed.

As Naruto walked through the woods that lead to Tazuna's house, he suddenly came upon the scene of a dome made out of ice. Closing his eyes, Naruto used his Senju giving sensor technique to see who was using such a massive Jutsu. "Sasuke!" He said in surprise as throw his right arm up to disengage the chain, pumping some chakra into the metal, Naruto shifted the end into a weighted ball a flung it at one of the mirrors shattering it into pieces.

Haku gasped when one of his mirrors burst into shards, what was supposed to be just a simple gathering of herbs quickly turned into a battle when the raven-haired Konoha Genin realized that he was the hunter ninja who helped Zabuza escape.

Sasuke released a breath of relief when he saw one of Haku's mirrors become shattered, at first he was able to keep up with the feminine looking boy until he activated some weird ice Jutsu. "Naruto!" The Uchiha called out knowing that it had to be his blonde teammate since Kakashi was still out of it and Sakura wouldn't even know what to do in this situation.

"**Doton: Dosekiryu (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon)!" **Naruto shouted as a massive dragon arose out of the ground and travelled towards the mirrors, initially the ice managed to keep the dragon at bay but once Naruto pumped enough chakra into faux creature it was able to begin wrecking the mirrors allowing Sasuke to escape.

Quickly Sasuke took his chance at freedom and ran out of the dome while avoid the falling ice. "What took you so long!?" Sasuke said dashing towards Naruto.

"Naruto had no idea you were fighting Sasuke-san," The Uzumaki answered while retracting his chain. "Hey Sasuke-san you, umm activated you Sharingan." Before Sasuke could register Naruto's words he world faded into black. "I'll handle the rest."

Haku had no idea why the blonde Genin decided to knock out his teammate but he didn't really care all it meant was he'll have a better chance of returning to Zabuza. "I will warn you only once, leave me be or I will be forced to kill you."

Naruto had to stop himself from laughing at the fake hunter-ninja's threat as he walked forward with a grin on his face. "Tell me what is your purpose in life?"

Reaching into his pink kimono, Haku withdrew a handful of senbon. "I only live to aid Zabuza-sama in his goals."

"So you are just a tool for a killer?"

"Do not disrespect Zabuza-sama!" Haku yelled while throwing his senbon at the blonde only for them to pass harmlessly through him.

"I see," Naruto said with his Sharingan flaring into life. "Prepare to die."

Not knowing just how powerful his opponent was, Haku turned and decided to attempt to escape.

"Useless…" Naruto said taking off after Haku.

Haku didn't even look back as he jumped atop a tree hoping to obscure himself from his pursuer, but the moment his feet touched the tree he had to jump off to avoid a metal ball.** "Hyoton: Tsubame Fubaki (Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm)!"**

Naruto paid the birds no mind as they flew through his body as if it wasn't even there.

'_How does he do-_Wham! Haku was knocked out his thoughts when Naruto suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Naruto landed on the ground next to Haku with his chain in hand. "I knew I should've came back earlier, I might have gotten a shot at you when you were fresh."

**Done and done. I finished this chapter late at night so I don't have much to say because I'm sleepy, I hope you guys don't mind if the some of the scenes are rush.**

**Ok be sure to Review because I be sure to respond to any question. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Ok let me just address some things. Is Obito appearing in this? Well no need to be mysterious, so yeah he is.**

**Will this story have a pairing? Yep, Naruto will be paired with someone. It won't be Yaoi, just to make a clarification.**

**Will Naruto get Tobi's mask? Sure why not.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but a pre-ordered copy of The Last of Us…Friday my body is ready.**

**Chapter 3: The cleansing flames. **

"_Let me ask you a question young one," Madara said to his young student as the two sat side-by-side fishing for their daily meal. "What do you think of war?"_

_The young boy looked up from the crystal clear lake and gave his sensei a inquisitive look. "I think it's necessary to obtain true peace in this world." He answered back._

_The old man let out a raspy laugh as he heard his apprentice's answer. "Back in my youth I would have agreed with you in a hearth beat, young one, but now in my old age I realize what war truly is…." The old man paused to reel in a fish. "War is something the old and bitter trick the young and angry into. There is nothing necessary about war because there is always an alternative and that is what we will be discussing today._

**-Line break-**

A shout of "Sasuke-kun!" was the first thing Naruto heard the moment he entered Tazuna's home with an unconscious Sasuke on his shoulder, in a rush the pinkette ran across the room towards her crush while saying silent prayers. "Is Sasuke-kun ok?" She worriedly asked her blonde teammate.

"Don't worry Sakura-san, Sasuke-san is alive despite his injuries." Naruto said as he placed the Uchiha on one of Tazuna's couches eliciting a look of horror from Tazuna and his daughter.

"I told you!" Yelled Tazuna's grandson, Inari. "I told you Gato is unbeatable, you should have listened to me and left when you had the chance." The young boy was ignored in favor of Kakashi entering the room with a serious look on his face.

"Naruto explain!" The Jonin said with a tone he hasn't used since his days of leading a ANBU team.

With no hesitation, the Genin quickly followed Kakashi's orders. "Naruto was out practicing with his gunbai when he all of a sudden heard sounds of fighting, so when Naruto followed the sounds he saw a whole lot of mirrors made of ice. At first Naruto was going to just watch as the fight plays out but then he saw that it was Sasuke-san fighting so Naruto knew he had to help."

Kakashi's eye lingered on Naruto for a few seconds before turning to Sasuke. "So what happened to the fake hunter-ninja?"

"Naruto…killed him…he had no choice." Naruto said lowering his head a bit in guilt.

Kakashi turned back towards Naruto with a look of pity. "Was…Was this your first kill?" He asked the Genin.

Naruto shook his head negative. "No, Naruto killed before when he was younger…" The blonde said in a solemn tone. "Naruto's knows that sometimes killing isn't avoidable but he still doesn't like it." It was true even though Madara trained him to show no mercy in battle didn't mean Naruto enjoyed ending someone's life.

"Nor should you Naruto…" The Jonin said while walking over to Sasuke, after gently prying a panicking Sakura aside, Kakashi was able to get a full view of the Uchiha's injuries. "Just a few cuts and bruises, Sasuke will be up in no time." Sakura released a sigh of relief. "Naruto I assume you know about setting traps?"

"Yep, Jiraiya-sama taught Naruto how to set Fuinjutsu traps."

"Good place some around the perimeter." Kakashi ordered Naruto. "And you Sakura make sure Sasuke is properly banged. When Zabuza figures out that his partner isn't coming back he'll have to option; either leave us be or try to take us by surprise."

**-Line break-**

Once Kakashi gave him the order, Naruto headed back to the location where he first discovered Sasuke's battle, the area was littered with burnt marks and shards of ice signify that a battle of the elements took place here not too long ago. With the knowledge that this might be the first place Zabuza looks when he realizes his partner isn't going to return, Naruto figured this would be the perfect place to set some traps, but in a bout of déjà vu, the blonde shinobi ducked to the ground to avoid Zabuza's massive blade.

"Where is Haku!?" Zabuza shouted accompanied with a massive amount of killer intent.

"Dead." Naruto said placing his hand on the hilt of his gunbai. "Problem?"

Zabuza growled at the brat's words as he dashed forward intent to use his blade to bisect the kid as revenge for Haku. "I'll kill you!" Zabuza roared.

With practiced ease, Naruto withdrew his gunbai and blocked Zabuza's weapon. "You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" Naruto taunted even though his arms were trembling because of Zabuza's superior strength. "Trust me Zabuza I'm much stronger than I look."

"We'll see!" The missing-ninja said applying more strength behind the Kubikiribocho forcing his blonde opponent back a few feet, the kid was strong but his strength meant very little in the face of a man who's dedicated a large portion of his life learning to wield one of the seven famous swords.

Clicking his teeth in annoyance, Naruto pumped some chakra into his chain transforming a part of it into a weighted ball and lunched it towards Zabuza.

Zabuza could have laughed at how useless the attack was as the ball bounced of the flat side of his sword, but before he could comment the brat was running through some hand seals. "Like hell I'll let you finish that!" He said lunching the blade.

'_Fuck!' _Naruto internally cursed as he dodged the weapon. _'I really need to work on perfecting the __**Kamui**_** (Authority of The Gods).' **He thought, though Naruto was able to the technique to a decent degree he still wasn't able to just cancel a Jutsu and to become intangible or teleport. "Now let's see how tough you are without you blade!" Naruto said retracting his chain and rushing Zabuza.

Even without his blade, Zabuza still proved deserving of his A-rank status, as he put his strength to use by delivering a staggering kick towards the blonde, but instead of his shinobi sandals meeting flesh, Zabuza kicked the brat's war fan.

'_Just how strong is this guy?' _Naruto wondered as he went flying backwards, with grace only a properly trained shinobi could achieve, the Genin landed safely on his feet only to be forced to roll out of the way of a downward swing of Zabuza's sword.

Kipping back up, Naruto transformed a part of his chain into a sickle and swung it at Zabuza's exposed neck in hope of decapitating the man, however the older shinobi took a page out of Naruto's book and rolled out of the way the attack and counter with a swing of his sword.

"Now you're dead!" Zabuza said as he watched his sword travel towards the Konoha shinobi's exposed mid-section, normally a attack like this would mark the end of the battle but sword passed through the Genin as if he wasn't there. "What the fuck!" There was no way that the brat was a clone or he was trap in a Genjutsu.

"Cool, huh?" Naruto said looking at Zabuza with his Sharingan spinning.

"Neat trick brat, I've never seen a technique like that." The Ex-mist shinobi said rising to his feet. "But you don't live long in this profession unless you're able to adjust to new things." With that, Zabuza swung his blade once more only to watch, as his blade once more hit nothing.

Though the grin on Naruto's face gave the illusion of pure confidence, the young shinobi has yet to really master the **Kamui (Authority of The Gods) **and knew if he kept abusing the technique it would only lead to his downfall. _'I gotta stop using that Jutsu or my Sharingan will forcibly shut off.' _It was something he discovered in his childhood when he first learned about the Jutsu, during a training session he figured he'd use it to avoid every attack but the end result was his Sharingan deactivated and wouldn't re emerge to the next day.

'_I can't let this fight drag on; I'm basically running on painkillers and chakra pills.' _When it became obvious that Haku wasn't going to return and most likely ran into the Konoha group, Zabuza popped a few of his military rations to go investigate what happened to his apprentice.

Pumping his gunbai full chakra, Naruto put a considerable amount of strength into his swing causing Zabuza to be rocket into the air with the Konoha shinobi following after him.

"Damn Futon Jutsu!" Zabuza cursed as he landed on the ground with no problem, the gust was strong enough to not only lift him far of the ground but also propel him into the main village. Before Zabuza could attempt to catch his breath, he suddenly had to evade the blade of an incoming red sickle.

It wasn't long after the attack, Naruto emerged from the tree line after Zabuza, the two stared each other down while all the villagers stopped to observe what was going on. Little did any of them know that the winner of the fight would either play a role in freeing their village or ensuring the continued rule of Gato.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto cursed the fact that they ended up in the middle of the village because of all the damage he could do with his more flashy techniques.

While his opponent might hold an apprehension of destroy someone's home, Zabuza did not. **"Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Water Trumpet)!" **The unaligned shinobi shouted while jumping into the air and spitting out a massive amount of water towards the blonde.

Each one of the fingers on Naruto's right hand suddenly became a blaze as he slammed his hand hard on the ground. **"Uchiha Kaenjin (Uchiha Flame Battle Encampment)!" **A large pillar of fire arose out of the ground to protect Naruto from the water Jutsu while also filling the area steam.

"Not good move brat," Zabuza said through the blinding steam. "I actually work better when my prey isn't visa-ack!" The taunt came to a end as a red chain wrapped around Zabuza's neck.

"Yeah, the acoustic of a crowded village isn't the same as a wide open field." Naruto said yanking on his chain. "You'd figure a veteran like you would know that."

Zabuza growled at his own stupid blunder as he gripped on the chain that was wrapped around his neck, using his massive strength the missing-ninja managed to begin spinning in place causing Naruto to go along with the moment. After working up enough momentum, Zabuza decided it was his turn to change the battlefield and slung Naruto into the air.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed while he swung his gunbai towards the ground to slow his descent, whilst the initial landing was perfect the follow through was not since Zabuza was there to greet Naruto with a kick to the chest sending the blonde flying through something hard.

"What the fuck!" Gato yelled as the front doors to his mansion exploded into splinters as a blonde teenager came flying through. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

Naruto groaned a bit in pain as he began lifting himself from the ground, but before he could make it to his own two feet, he received a little help from Zabuza who lifted him up the collar of his outfit.

Gato watched as Zabuza tossed the teenager ruthlessly through one of his expensive marble statues. "Do you know how much that fucking thing cost!?" The business tyrant yelled in anger.

All it took was one glare from Zabuza to make the midget run away in fear. "Not bad kid I might have let you live if I didn't need to avenge Haku, so any last words?" The missing-ninja said as he walked towards the downed blonde.

"Funny," Naruto said as blood dripped from the edges of his mouth. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

Zabuza's eyes widen as he quickly jumped away from the brat's body only to barely escape a exploding corpse. "There's no way he just killed himself, that's got to be a Jutsu!"

"You are correct, sir!" Naruto shouted as his hands emerged from Gato's hardwood floor and grabbed Zabuza's ankles, the floors offered no resistance as the missing-ninja was pulled into Gato's basement.

It only took Zabuza a second to return to a suitable fighting stance, as he looked around the area, Zabuza wasn't surprised to see that Gato was stockpiling weapons. The place filled with all types of weapons from shinobi to samurai.

Unfortunate for Zabuza he wasn't that only who took note of Gato's arsenal in fact, Naruto was eyeing a few explosives that were out of Zabuza's range of sight. "In the lack of good ideas…**Katon: Hibashiri (Fire Release: Running Fire)!" **After taking a deep breath, Naruto expelled a stream of fire that travelled on the ground and circled around Zabuza.

Zabuza's eyes widen as he tracked the direction of the fire and watched as it went towards a few canisters marked explosives. "You'll kill us both, you-!

**-Line break-**

Gato and the small army of bandits behind him all were forced to cover their ears as Gato's manor was reduced to rubble with a thunderous explosion. "Son of a bitch!" Gato loudly cursed. "Fucking shinobi, I knew I never should have hired that bastards and his little bitch!"

Though he lost his home, Gato was able to take a little solace in the fact that the two died with his home, but before Gato could give the order to salvage anything that made it through the explosion a small amount of movement could be seen.

Emerging from the wreckage was Naruto, though he managed to avoid the grunt of the explosion using **Kamui (Authority of The Gods) **his cloak and shirt was destroyed living him shirtless and his pants were also tattered, the only things that remained ok was his gunbai and red chain. "Whew…now that was a good warm up." Naruto said swaying slightly.

"Kill him!" Gato yelled. "Bring me his fucking head!" The army roared as they begin to rush forward.

"Tch," Plunging his gunbai into the dirt Naruto began to build a massive amount of chakra into his lungs while forming seals. **"Katon: Goka Mekkyaku (Great Fire Annihilation)!" **Gato and his thugs didn't even have a chance to scream for their lives as a wave of fire washed over them. "Huff…Huff…" Even a chakra tank like Naruto could still feel the effects of using such a chakra draining Jutsu. "Hard to believe that the old man used to shoot those around like they were nothing…"

"**Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet)!"**

Naruto's Sharingan begun to spin rapidly as his body turned intangible to allow the technique to pass right through him, once the Jutsu ran its course Naruto's vision became monetarily blurry before his eyes became charcoal black. "Fuck." He said lowly knowing that he wouldn't be activating the Sharingan for the duration of the battle.

"Real tough brat," Zabuza said showing off his sharpened teeth, the bandages around his mouth were most likely destroyed during his escape. "Now let's get back to it!"

Naruto stared at Zabuza for a few seconds before pointing in a random direction. "If you could just go fuck off over there…that'd be great." Nevertheless, just as the young shinobi predicted, Zabuza charged him with his sword ready to start again.

Biting his bottom lip, Naruto blocked Zabuza's strike by holding up his chain-covered arm. _'Bad idea!' _The blonde Uzumaki thought as his feet sunk slightly into the ground because of the Zabuza's strength.

'_Just what the hell is that chain made of?' _Zabuza wondered as it managed to hold the Kubikiribocho at bay. "You know all your fancy techniques don't mean shit in the face of a true shinobi, your just another kid putting on a headband thinking this is some game. Trust me kid, people like you are a dime a dozen and you most of you all end up in unnamed ditch."

"Heh, just like Haku?"

"I'll kill you for that!" Zabuza roared as retracted his blade to go for an impalement.

It wasn't a problem for Naruto to jump out of the way of the strike. "Sorry Zabuza I can't die, I have to save the world."

"You won't be able to save yourself!"

"We'll see…" Naruto said running through some seals. **"Doton: Retsudo Tensho (Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turing Palm)!" **Slamming his hands into the ground, Naruto watched as Zabuza jump into the air to avoid the opening earth from swallowing him whole.

The moment Zabuza took to air he hurled his blade towards Naruto who rolled out of the way of the attack, but just as the blonde thought he avoided being killed, Zabuza quickly substituted himself with his blade and grabbed the young shinobi by his ankle.

"Now I got you, brat!" Zabuza said as he viciously slammed Naruto onto the ground. "Was those two ribs or three? My ears are still ringing from that explosion!" The missing-Ninja taunted as he held Naruto upside-down.

With a flick of his wrist, Naruto allowed a part of his chain to slide into his palm and transformed it into a sickle. "Hands off!" He shouted as he took a swipe at Zabuza with the curved blade.

"Not good enough, brat." The Jonin said as he lend out of the way of the blade to receive a shallow cut underneath his right eye, reaching into his equipment pouch, Zabuza withdrew a Kunai and pressed it against where Naruto's kidneys would be placed.

Feeling the blade against his bare skin, Naruto looked at Zabuza without a hint of fear in his eyes. "it'll be a shame that I can't bury you alongside you little boyfriend." A cloak of fire covered Naruto's hand as he slammed it onto the ground. **"Uchiha Kaenjin (Uchiha Flame Battle Encampment)!" **The moment the flames arose out of the ground, Naruto could feel Zabuza release his ankle forcing him to stand on his hands until the fires died down.

Once the flames were gone, Naruto got back to his feet and looked at the still standing charred body of Zabuza."Momochi Zabuza you have my respect because my pity is only reserved for those who died on their backs."

**-Line break-**

As Naruto made his way through the woods that lead to Tazuna's home, he was surprised to see the place littered with bodies of bandits. Based on the damage done to the surrounding area, it seems that they were intercepted before they could make it to Tazuna's house.

Entering the home, Naruto was greeted with the sight of Sakura hugging her knees and Sasuke sitting in a contemplative position. "Nee, nee what happened?" Naruto asked getting the attention of his fellow Genin.

Before either of them could answer, Kakashi walked into the room. "It seems Gato didn't want to wait for Zabuza to deliver so he decided to send an army of bandits at us." The Jonin explained while taking in Naruto's appearance. "So did you run into a few of them?"

Naruto didn't verbally respond instead he choice to wipe a little blood on a storage seal tattoo he had on his arm, in a cloud of smoke Zabuza's famed blade appeared making Kakashi and his two teammate's eyes widen.

"Naruto ran into Zabuza when he was setting the traps like you told him to do," The blonde explained. "Naruto tried to get away but Zabuza was too fast and he was forced to fight."

"So you managed to beat Zabuza?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

"The only reason Naruto was able to return alive was because Zabuza was still feeling the effects from his battle with you." The blonde clarified. "Even though he wasn't at full strength, Naruto was barely able to land the finishing blow."

"Then you should all just leave while you can…" Tazuna said entering the room with a grime look on his face. "There's no doubt that Gato will now find someone even stronger than that Zabuza-guy to kill you."

"Actually, Gato won't be a problem anymore." Naruto said getting a look of shock from Tazuna.

"You mean…"

"During our fight, Gato got caught in the crossfire of Naruto and Zabuza's fight." Naruto lied; it'll be easier to tell Kakashi that then to explain how he baked the shipping tycoon and his hired muscle.

"Thank you…" The bridge builder said in a hushed tone. "Thank you all so much."

"Eh, it was no problem; Naruto was just doing his job." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head before turning to Kakashi. "What's wrong with Sakura-san?" He asked

Kakashi looked back at the pink haired girl. "Today she got her first kill, her and Sasuke." While Kakashi fought alongside weakened Sasuke, Sakura kept her distance while firing of the kunai Naruto gave her. It was only after one of her victim's head rolled next to her, she realized that a lot of her tosses were taking lives.

**-Line break-**

Tazuna smiled brightly as he looked at finished work, after so much blood, sweat and tears the bridge was complete and the village was filled with a new sense of pride, not only was Gato now gone but all the bandits that used to raid their village was no longer around. "The great Konoha Bridge!" Tazuna said happily. "That's what we'll call it, in honor of what their village has done for us!"

On the sidelines, Kakashi and his team smiled as the people of wave chanted their village name in appreciation. "Well I think it's about time we had home, huh team?"

**-Line break-**

After giving the Hokage their mission details, team seven was dismissed and giving the week off, as Naruto exited the Hokage tower, he suddenly heard his name being called out. Turning around, the blonde raised a eyebrow to see Sakura and Sasuke following him.

"Nee, do you need something, Sakura-san and Sasuke-san?" Naruto asked.

Sakura looked a little shy but Sasuke had no problem stepping up. "We want your help." The Uchiha simply said.

"Naruto's help?" The blonde asked while pointing to himself. "How can Naruto help you two?"

"By helping us train." Sasuke explained. "You were able to kill not only Zabuza but also that fake hunter-ninja when I could barley do a thing."

"Please Naruto-san, we aren't really growing that much under Kakashi-sensei and we need someone with some experience to help us out, you've been training with Jiraiya-sama so there has to something you can do to help us." Sakura said.

Naruto crossed his arms as thoughtful look came onto his face. "Ok, Naruto will help you but he wants something in return."

"And that is?" Sasuke asked.

"Heh, all in due time Sasuke-san." The Uzumaki answered.

While that made Sakura a bit skeptical, Sasuke had little problems agreeing with Naruto's terms. "Fine."

"Well first thing first, Naruto will need to retrieve some items from his home before we can start." Naruto said taking to the rooftops in the direction of his apartment with his teammates trailing behind, it didn't take long for Naruto to make it home and head inside to grab scroll. "Ok now let's head to Sasuke-san's clan compound."

"Why my clan compound?" Sasuke inquired, he didn't really feel comfortable with the prospect of bringing anyone into his clan's grounds.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Naruto explained. "We'll be able to training unrestrictedly and it'll be a more controlled environment."

"Hn, alright we'll train there, now follow me." Sasuke said taking lead.

Sakura was having a very hard time stopping herself from squealing in glee knowing that she was going to enter Sasuke-kun's home.

**-Line break-**

"Ok Sakura-san this scrolls contains books on **FuinJutsu, **Naruto wants you to read them from cover to cover at least three times and when you done that read them again." Naruto said handing Sakura a scroll before joining Sasuke on the training ground.

"So what will we be doing?" Sasuke asked as his Sharingan flared into life, training with Naruto would no doubt do wonders for gaining experience with his Doujutsu.

"Naruto is going to implement something you've probably never had in one of you training sessions." Naruto said taking a fighting stance.

"Oh," Sasuke said as he raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"

"An ass kicking." Naruto said as he rushed forward.

**Done and done. So yeah I do expect some hate for having Sakura learn Fuinjutsu but I don't care, I wanted to shy away from the medic-ninja Sakura and do something different. And yeah Sasuke is out of character but that just one of my changes. **


End file.
